Buffalo Soldiers Memorial Plaza Dedication

On May 3, 2021, a memorial six years in the making came to the day of its dedication.  The collaboration involved the Greater Southern Arizona Area Chapter (GSAAC) of the national Buffalo Soldiers organization, the Tucson City council, mayor, and city planner and the Tucson Department of Parks & Recreation, with the assistance of the voters in Tucson who approved Proposition 407 (funding improvements to parks and recreation facilities, including the Buffalo Soldier Memorial Plaza), and many others who helped along the way.  At the very tail end of the process, the planners opened a poetry contest, seeking a poem that epitomized the Buffalo Soldiers, to be read at the Memorial Plaza dedication. 

Our seventh grader, Audrey, was given the poem as an assignment, with the option of entering it into the contest.  She learned about the Buffalo Soldiers, wrote a poem, and submitted it to the poetry contest. A little less than a month later, we got an excited call from one of the organizers of the dedication ceremony. Audrey had won! Could she come read her poem the next week? 

Soon we found ourselves at the dedication. The poet was cool and collected.

 

  The event started with a welcome and the posting of the colors.

 

 

In addition to the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance, the ceremony was opened with a recording of the song "Buffalo Soldier" by Bob Marley, and a performance of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," often called the Black National Anthem (written by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson). 

 

 

 

After a blessing, Council member Richard Fimbres stepped in as master of ceremonies and introduced Mayor Regina Romero, who welcomed those attending, read a proclamation and spoke to the crowd about the importance of equity in representation in Tucson.

 

 Then it was Audrey's turn.

After she spoke, the keynote speaker stepped up, but we were caught up in a flurry of photos. On the left is Audrey with her middle school principal, Ms. McGlory, and the historian of the Buffalo Troopers of Sierra Vista.  At right, Audrey with two members of the Buffalo Troopers of Sierra Vista. The troopers even gave Audrey a Buffalo Soldiers challenge coin, which she is holding in the photo. 

Finally, before the close of the ceremony, the informational plaques and granite monument were unveiled.

  

The dedication closed with a 21-gun salute and the playing of Taps, with a benediction, followed by the official ribbon cutting. 

 

Audrey delivered her poem with poise and grace, and received many compliments on her poem from both the organizers and people who attended the dedication. She also received a great compliment when the Chancellor of Pima Community College, speaking briefly as a community leader, quoted the closing lines of her poem, "...now, I honor you, Buffalo Soldiers."

 

 The full text of Audrey's poem, which will become a part of the memorial in the future:

Buffalo Soldiers
By: Audrey Orzech
 
Name taken from the sacred Buffalo,
Named by the very people  
to whom they drove away.
Black soldiers trying to make a life for themselves.
Working twice as hard to get half the credit,
compared to those  
drunk white men.  
Only the worst for these brave men.  
Only the mushiest of mush.
Posted to help people move west.
Sometimes killed  
by those whom they were only trying to keep safe.  
Never hearing too many gun shots,
instead hearing the banging of hammers.  
On the roads they worked hard to build.
Spending their days surrounded by the  
Beauty  
Of the first National Parks.
Preparing them for the  
white visitors.
When guns were heard,
black soldiers fought bravely.
Though the white got most of the credit.  
Honored in France when not even their own country,
Their own country!  
Recognized them.    
Then in 1964,  
things started to change.
They finally got recognized for their work.  
In the past you weren't honored.
But now.
I honor you.
Buffalo Soldiers.